Updated 10:51 pm, Thursday, July 25, 2013

Protesters in Oakland stop a car July 14 at 14th Street and Broadway, where they vented their anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Protesters in Oakland stop a car July 14 at 14th Street and Broadway, where they vented their anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Oakland may ban 'tools of violence' from protests

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Hammers, slingshots, clubs, wrenches, spray-paint cans, shields and other potentially destructive items would be outlawed from protests on the streets of Oakland under an ordinance that the City Council will decide on Tuesday night.

The proposal to ban "tools of violence" from future demonstrations will come up for a vote two weeks after protesters smashed windows in downtown Oakland and struck a waiter in the face with a hammer.

"Certain individuals feel they can do whatever they want - burn my city, break windows, hurt individuals. It has to stop," said Councilman Noel Gallo, who introduced the proposal. "We are tired of it."

It's not Oakland's first attempt to ban such items. At the height of the Occupy Oakland protests in 2012, City Attorney Barbara Parker and Councilwoman Pat Kernighan proposed a similar ban to the council's Public Safety Committee, but the committee took no action after the meeting was disrupted by irate Occupy demonstrators who said the proposal was a violation of their right to free speech. Kernighan said she didn't reintroduce the ban because the idea appeared to inflame, rather than calm, an already tense situation.

This time, the proposal will go directly to the full council, where it's expected to face an easier sell largely because public outrage over the violent demonstrations increased after several popular locally owned businesses were vandalized during the protests after the not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial, including the apparel store Oaklandish and Youth Radio, which trains young journalists.

Use of shields

Attorney Dan Siegel, a longtime Occupy supporter and former legal adviser to Mayor Jean Quan, said he wasn't particularly fazed by the proposed ban last time or this time.

"Honestly, I don't think people need to be carrying hammers - or guns, or knives, for that matter - with them, unless they happen to be carpenters," he said.

He did object to the proposed ban on shields.

"I'll support a ban on shields when the police stop beating people up," he said.

At several protests in 2011 and 2012, demonstrators launched rocks and bottles from behind shields and used shields as protection as they marched into police lines, according to a 2012 report by Parker.

Protesting Florida acquittal

Last week's protests came after the Florida acquittal of Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

For three nights, a small band of protesters broke off from larger, peaceful demonstrations to light fires, break windows and throw bottles at police. At one point, they blocked Interstate 880.

Drew Cribley, 32, a waiter at the restaurant Flora, was hit in the cheekbone with a hammer when he asked a protester to stop smashing windows at the popular Uptown restaurant. Cribley is recovering and was expected to return to work this week, according to the restaurant's website, which also listed a fund where the public can donate to help the injured waiter.

Flora staff did not return calls seeking comment about the city's proposal, but the website included a note to diners on the protest's aftermath: "Even in light of the violence of last week, we LOVE Oakland. We know that it is an amazing place with wonderful people and many, many positive things happening," it said. "We are committed to being part of that positive presence."

Particularly, the city needs to narrowly define what items would be prohibited and under what circumstances. A carpenter walking home from work, with hammers and wrenches, should not be subject to arrest if he passes through a peaceful demonstration, Risher said.

"Oakland needs to make it very clear what's forbidden, so people aren't left wondering," he said. "What's a club to one person could be a sign-holder or a cane to another person."

California already has numerous laws restricting weapons in public places, he noted.

Kernighan is leaning toward voting for the proposal, but the most effective tool against further mayhem will be more police, not more ordinances, she said.

'Stretched too thin'

"This could be helpful, but our main problem right now is that the police are stretched too thin," she said.

On July 13, police were focused on the disappearance of a 21-month-old girl from East Oakland when the Zimmerman verdict was announced and at first didn't have adequate staff to control the downtown protests, interim Chief Sean Whent said.

Oakland currently has 629 sworn officers, down from 837 in December 2008. Ideally, the department should have between 830 and about 1,100, Kernighan said.

The city recently began funding police academies after a four-year hiatus, and the new classes of recruits will gradually increase police staffing, even with attrition and retirements.

How police handle protests must change as well, Kernighan said. Police need to be more aggressive in arresting vandals, she said.

Last week, police made no arrests the first night and only nine over the next two nights, for crimes such as assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and vandalism.

"We absolutely want the police to arrest vandals whenever possible," she said. "It's essential that we not tolerate that behavior in Oakland."

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